Friday, August 23, 2013

Demonosity!

Yes, so it has been a long time since I "came back" to my blog. Clearly, consistency has not been my companion this summer. A lot has happened since I last wrote, including our location change - I'm now happily blogging from Hiroo, Japan.

But that's not what we're here to talk about. I'm very happy to celebrate the release of my friend and GCC sister Amanda Ashby's newest book, DEMONOSITY. You may have seen Amanda around online (she can be found messing around on twitter, managing her fandom on facebook, or simply being awesome on her website). If you haven't met her, allow me to make the introductions.

Amanda is the celebrated author of YOU HAD ME AT HALO, ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HALL, FAIRY BAD DAY, and the MG series SOPHIE'S MIXED-UP MAGIC. She hails from the Land Down Under, where she earned a degree in English and Journalism. After bouncing between England and New Zealand for a decade and a half, she settled back in Oz with her husband and two kids, where she watches too much TV (kidding), indulges in plenty of good chocolate (not kidding), and writes.

Here's the skinny on DEMONOSITY:

The Black Rose–a powerful ancient force–has been let loose and has taken up
residence in Celeste Gibson, popular girl at Cassidy Carter-Lewis’ high school.
Thomas Delacroix is the spirit of a fourteenth-century knight who is devoted to
protecting the Black Rose, but he needs a contemporary living being to take on
the challenge. That’s where Cassidy comes in.She’s a quirky high school junior who just wants to dress in her vintage
clothes, hang out with her best friend, and take care of
her father, who is recovering from surgery. She’s the last person who
would ever volunteer for such a task, but no one actually asked her.
Now, like it or not, she finds herself training before dawn and battling
demons at parties, the mall, and even at school. But hey, no one ever said high
school was going to be easy.

Kirkus Reviews calls DEMONOSITY a "paranormal romp", and School Library Journal says it has "satisfying substance."

Amanda's Writing Tip:

"I’ve never written a book with a
‘real’ theme in mind before but with Demonosity I knew that my heroine was
going to have to make a choice between a good brother and a bad brother and so
I decided to explore that during the book. I’ve also always been fascinated
with Pride and Prejudice and how Lizzie discovers that the difference between
Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingham is that one has all the goodness and one has all the
appearance of it. And so I went into this book really focused on letting
Cassidy discover her own Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingham.

By doing this, I was surprised at how much fun I had and ended
up using the idea of good and bad in a whole lot of other unexpected ways as
she explored her relationship with other people in the book (particularly her
mother). Probably the biggest surprise was the ending, because I had been
convinced that I knew which was going to be the ‘good’ brother but when I came
to making Cassidy choose, I was really torn.

So I guess my writing tip is to not be afraid to use themes and
really see how they can apply to all parts of the story, not just the central
story. And fun. Fun is always good!"